Archive for December, 2011

Three metro stops and two bus rides brought us across the city from my hostel to Lecumberri prison, or what was once Lecumberri, anyway. The former jail now holds government archives, all of which are open to researchers, but limited areas of the building are open to non-researchers as well, i.e. to Professor Gómez and I. Uniformed officials take visitors’ bags at the door, usher them through metal detectors, and issue I.D. cards on lanyards to everyone who enters the building. I assume my I.D. card entitled me to the lowest ‘visitor’ clearance level in the building.

Watch tower located between two corridors that formerly housed prisoners. The foundations in the grass outline where more corridors, that housed prisoners, used to stand.

Inside the same watch tower as pictured at left. The towers are really very beautiful brick buildings, it's hard to believe they were formerly surrounded by prison corridors.

Once we were through security, we proceeded down a mail hallway to a wide, high, circular room at the center of the compound. The prison was built on the panopticon model, an architectural design that, from above, looks something like a spider: a central, circular room sits at the center, and several long, corridor-like extensions protrude on all sides from this main, domed hall.

Between the corridors sit additional watch towers, and thus the prisoners may be constantly observed from one of several towers but – and this phenomenon interested Foucault in particular – the prisoners have no way of knowing when a guard is looking out of the towers at them, only that a guard may be looking at any time day or night. The psychological effect on the prisoner, therefore, can be somewhat destabilizing and certainly discourage escape attempts.

A corridor of the panopticon prison, where inmates were housed.

A corridor of the archives building today. The former cells are storage areas.

Many 1970s resistance fighters and anti-government activists were held at Lecumberri, including ex-guerrilla fighter Elia Hernández and former resistance activist Gladys López, both of whom attended the ex-guerrilla insurgents conference.

We couldn't go in, but this is the doorway to an auditorium in which leftist students used to meet in the '60s and '70s.

A political cartoon on display at UNAM. The speech bubble says, "It's time to consult the bases," i.e. to consult the Mexican people about how to govern the country. However, we can see that the figurehead is merely a finger puppet, and thus the cartoon illustrates that the appearance of democracy is merely an illusion. The cartoon suggests that the campus remains an actively and left-leaning political scene.

Mexico City’s public university, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, or the National Autonomous University of Mexico) is one of the best in the country and has a contained campus just outisde the center o the city that includes the 1968 Olympic stadium. Professor Gómez received a degree in Hispanic Literatures and Languages at UNAM before completing her graduate studies in the States.

In the 1960s and ’70s the university was a hotbed of political activity. UNAM students organized rallies, demonstrations, etc. in protest of the PRI regime. Many of the ex-guerrilla women we interviewed reported that they first came into contact with the resistance movement through family members or friends affiliated with the university.

An UNAM academic building.

The 1968 Olympic Stadium, photo taken from across the highway.

UNAM academic building with mural.

Paved courtyard at UNAM.

The university typically enrolls about 300,000 students per year, and Professor Gómez explained that there is no on-campus housing. Most students are residents of the Mexico City area, and thus live at home. But others, who come from more rural communities, rent apartments or rooms in the city. Few students complete their studies in four years because, although tuition is relatively inexpensive, most must work to pay their own living and education costs. Many also financially support their families. A vast majority of the students are of a nontraditional (by American standards, I suppose) undergraduate age.

An examination is required to enter the college. Although Professor Gómez does not think the exam is particularly difficult, she says that it can be hard to gain entrance because the college admits a limited number of students each year and thus, although an applicant’s test scores may be satisfactory, if a number of other students scored just a little bit higher, then the student will not be admitted. Although such a system may sound both fair and familiar to American students applying to competitive undergraduate schools, there are fewer college options in Mexico, and thus not gaining admittance to UNAM is far more of a setback to a Mexican student than a rejection from Haverford would be for an American one. Also, since tuition is very low, there is no financial aid, and, as I said, no housing provided, so attending another university would entail moving to another area, finding enough work to support one’s self, and taking classes during one’s time off work. Since the student is working, he/she will probably not be able to enroll full-time, and thus his/her stay in the area will likely last far longer than four years.

Depiction of snakes in pre-Hispanic style carved onto an UNAM wall.

Mural at UNAM.

UNAM grounds. Although school was not in session when we visited, it was a bustling park-like place to be. Beyond the trees a gentleman was holding a dog training class on the lawns.